Alone in Four Walls

In rural Russia there is a home for children who have been convicted. Children sentenced for a range of offences are sent there. Some of those offences are theft and some are far graver. Inside, without the pressure of the world outside, they are able to behave like children for the first time. But that new life is not easy for all of them. The documentary tells the stories of several of them. The account does not describe the children by their offences; it listens to them in their own words. The title comes from there too: being alone inside four walls. Every one of them has to bear being kept apart from their family. And they know one more thing: when they get out they are unlikely to be forgiven. Alexandra Westmeier’s German documentary, eighty five minutes long, was completed in 2008.